Meeting 16 • 28 February 2013 • Thursday
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pictures of the week
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thought-bite of the week: "I reckoned that it was my duty in this book to record all the data obtained from reliable sources…, investigate the causes and relations, and establish fixed points in the rapid course of time…"(Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, p. 19) |
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mini-text of the week (start): "…we forgot that there might be dangers descending steep slopes covered with a smooth, slippery grass in the dark."Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, pp. 17-18 (read more) |
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(5') Mini-text of the week: How high, at least on this Earth, is high? How deep is deep? Hot? Cold? How much of that have you experienced personally? |
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(15') How accurate are whatever GPS apps you have on your mobile? How - which terms and numbers - should we define "accurate"? Some iPhone/ iPad apps - link to more info - that Humboldt would have killed for: "Theodolite", "SkyView Free", "GoSkyWatchP", "SkyTime". "Pirate Compass" would not have impressed him. Same/similar apps are available for Android. More about "shooting the sun" (or the stars): adjusting for calendar and clock; using Polaris (North Star) to determine latitude. Humboldt's map of the Casiquiare (article and large-scale drawing), which (hint!) is very near the equator, was 3 degrees of longitude in error. How big was that error, in terms of miles and percent inaccuracy and in terms of what may have caused it: a chronometer or other calculation of time that was used to determine longitude? Extra glory (not extra credit): How serious an error, in terms of Humboldt's claim to scientific precision in his own time, would have been an error of 3 degrees of LATITUDE? |
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(15') Comparative validity of sources of evidence about "VERY long ago": a) pre-1700 "science" (word didn't exist then in that sense); b) oral history and tradition, including folk knowledge; c) classical ("pagan") history & "science"; d) Bible. What issues of truth, validity, purpose are raised here? Some misconceptions about earlier worldviews and conflicts (science vs. science; science vs. religion): flat/round Earth (Columbus and before); rotating Earth; geocentric universe with "Man as center of universe"; age of the Earth / world, including the notorious ••"4004 BC" dating. Small groups: Where do you get your citizen information, opinions, conclusions, solutions, and how do you check it out? If you are into "think globally, act locally", where do you get your local info? What "signs" are there that your sources are reliable? |
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(15') Now and THEN, here and THERE: your own range of comparisons. The world Now and in 1600 (-1900+): your probable individual fate, and what you, transported back to then, would find very different (very absent, very present); standards of living for the (decile) range of population; What caused the change, and what did the change cause? How does that relates to social responsibility (activism?) and sustainable environmentalism? See also handout from previous meeting: pictures from Lesy, Wisconsin Death Trip; article from The Economist, about malnutrition in the present. |
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(15') Humboldt's worldS, and a foretaste of next week's theme, as illustrated by the music by American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-69) - Wikipedia link. Here (temporary link to comply with © restrictions) are two pieces incorporating musical motifs inspired by his childhood in the American South (French-speaking Louisiana) and his travels in the Caribbean and elsewhere in Latin America. Gottschalk's mother was creole. |
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(5') Announcements, Checkups & Previews: 1) still more advice about "educated citizen" reading, with yet another example (NYRB); 2) one focus of "interpreting the past" to the present during the rest of the course: land and water allocation and use in the American West, including Oregon, and how Humboldt play an important role in that. One theme of next several weeks: Humboldt's influence on the development of systems of land and water measurement and ma |